Quenching Thirst in the Sacred Waters of the Deep Masculine

A Day's Journey for Men into the Beautiful and Precious Male Soul.

As the psalmist weeps, “What is within me thirsts, as in a dry and barren land”. Every man knows that feeling all too well. In these early weeks of 2017, with New Year freshness still crackling in our bones and tingling in our veins, here is a day inviting men of all backgrounds to dig below their surface lives of performance and survival; refresh themselves in the underground stream of the masculine soul, and relax into the embrace of their deeper, more authentic and hidden lives. The waters of this ‘larger story’, ‘truest self’, ‘widest love’, are most wisely accessed through a gentle letting go and relaxing into, an unrushed opening to and living within their quenching depths. Are you feeling parched?

Led by: Nik Williams

9.30am for 10am until 4pm. Includes coffee, lunch and afternoon tea.

A Day's Journey for Men into the Beautiful and Precious Male Soul.

As the psalmist weeps, “What is within me thirsts, as in a dry and barren land”. Every man knows that feeling all too well. In these early weeks of 2017, with New Year freshness still crackling in our bones and tingling in our veins, here is a day inviting men of all backgrounds to dig below their surface lives of performance and survival; refresh themselves in the underground stream of the masculine soul, and relax into the embrace of their deeper, more authentic and hidden lives. The waters of this ‘larger story’, ‘truest self’, ‘widest love’, are most wisely accessed through a gentle letting go and relaxing into, an unrushed opening to and living within their quenching depths. Are you feeling parched?

Through the events and experiences of everyday life, a man's soul will slowly lead him to those waters through stumbles, failures, humiliations and wounds. His wrestling with hurt, pain, loss, regret, disappointment and grief loosens him, dries him up, increases his thirsting and then guides him home to deeper and nourishing waters of masculine being. As male spirituality guide Fr Richard Rohr puts it, “We need to fail, to fall, to jump into the central mystery of our existence”. He teaches it is nothing short of a ‘cosmological realignment’. It's also possible for men to choose to embark on the deepening, further journey. On this day together we will begin tapping into the depths of that underground stream using the soul images offered by Matthew Fox in his book, 'The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.' These will act as watering holes at which we may pause, breathe, drink deeply, and take a swim.

In his introduction to that book, Fox offers a helpful description for our day together: “We will explore ancient and new masculine images that allow us men breathing room to be our best and deepest selves: our wild and fierce selves, our gentle and loving selves, our soaring and mystical selves. Our prophetic, sharing, earth-loving, cosmic and expansive selves. Our generative, creative, compassionate, fatherly and wise selves. Our heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual selves. In short, our true selves.”

Co-creating an attitude and judgement free atmosphere of compassionate listening, acceptance, belonging and brotherhood, our circle of men will journey into the sacredness of who we are, and who we are becoming; exploring for ourselves what the psalmist promises... “There is a river whose streams make us glad, and the Beloved is in the midst of it”. Come. Come alone. Come with fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, friends or husbands. Come and share this journey home to the deep, sparkling waters of the sacred masculine. Could 2017 be your year of deeper awakening?

Nik Williams will be your facilitator for the day. Nik has a passion for becoming more human and more awake; a passion fired and supported by over twenty years’ involvement in men's work internationally. He believes in living gently, facing and embracing joy and pain, and the unrivalled bliss of good coffee!

Weather permitting, some of the day will be outdoors so please bring appropriate warm clothing as well as wellies, brolly and a towel. Also bring a drum of some sort if you have one.

Book a place

Choose between residential or non-residential below and then click Add to Basket.

Special offers:

Multi-purchase: If you book three or more residential courses all at once, Ammerdown will give you 5% discount on the total fees (N.B. this 5% discount does not apply when a bursary has already been agreed)

Extend your stay: Subject to availability, you are welcome to extend your stay before or after your course. If you choose to do so, Ammerdown will give you a 5% discount on our standard ‘Private Stays’ rates: please contact the centre to arrange this.